A global manufacturer had a decade of legacy ECC investment, a S/4HANA deadline approaching, and an opening RISE proposal that quietly reset both the indirect-access boundary and the credit treatment for existing entitlement. Twenty-two weeks later, the migration signed with credits preserved, indirect access defined in contract and a five-year run-rate $22.4M below the opening.
The client had invested in SAP ECC, Business Suite and a wide custom development estate over eleven years. The internal migration plan for S/4HANA was real but uneven across business units. SAP's mainstream maintenance horizon had become the forcing function.
The opening package proposed RISE Premium Plus with a metered consumption model, an FUE conversion that quietly reset legacy entitlement, and an indirect-access reference that pointed at SAP's contemporary digital-access pricing rather than the client's existing position.
Three distinct issues sat under one cover sheet: the RISE pricing model, the credit treatment for existing investment, and the indirect-access scope. Each had to be negotiated independently, or the headline number would have hidden the structural cost.
Built a defensible inventory of existing SAP entitlement, mapped to the RISE FUE conversion table, and flagged every line where the conversion was unfavourable to the client.
Worked with the client's enterprise architecture team to document every system that touched SAP data. The output was a contractually defined indirect-access scope, not a unilateral SAP definition.
Modelled three credit shapes against existing entitlement: full credit, weighted credit by product, and time-decay credit. Negotiated the structure that preserved a decade of investment.
Re-sized the FUE commitment against a realistic adoption ramp aligned to the client's migration plan, not SAP's preferred adoption curve.
Negotiated continuity clauses covering S/4HANA on-premise optionality and data extraction terms.
Position paper drafted, executive sponsor presented, and our team supported the five follow-up rounds.
A RISE move is three negotiations in one: pricing, credits and indirect access. Run them in parallel but document the position on each separately. Vendors prefer them blended; buyers benefit from them separated.
The RISE agreement preserved one hundred percent of the client's existing entitlement value, defined the indirect-access boundary in a contractual schedule, and ramped FUE consumption against the client's adoption plan. Five-year run-rate landed $22.4M below the opening proposal.
Tell us the contract horizon and the indirect-access position. We will respond within one business day with the lead and the most relevant precedent.